it’s sunday. our last night at the ballygarry house hotel was quiet for a change, which is nice. also, as long as our group is having breakfast, we are spared the rather annoying radio blast.1

after breakfast mrs d and i pack our stuff and join the rest of the pilgrims in our pilgrims bus. the first stop today is in listowel — apparently the literary capital of ireland. our stop is short: mr tambour, our pilgrimage guide, as always, is extremely well prepared and we learn quite a bit about listowel and its literary sons and daughters — but also take a look at listowel’s racetrack during the bus ride from tralee to listowel a co-pilgrim mentioned that apparently writers with a residence in ireland would live tax-free: might that explain the relatively high percentage of writers in relation to the total population? oh, one other thing that’s worth mentioning about listowel: the pedestrian crossing at the newsagents on the main square has an absolutely cool sounding free-to-walk alarm…

it’s a short stop only as we need to catch the 10:00 ferry from tarbert across the river shannon and after 20min or so we are on our way again.

the ferry across the river shannon is a double-ended, open top type of ferry with integral ramps which just drop down to the concrete ferry slips. we do make it to tarbert with about 10min to spare and take the opportunity to have a look across the shannon estuary. the crossing itself is fairly eventless (ignoring that strong shower just before we reach the other side of the river shannon) and we are soon on our way through county clare to lahinch with a short stop at kilkee to have a look at kilkee cliffs.

lahinch means lunch-time! we get dropped off at the sea promenade and mrs d and i do find a nice pub-cum-restaurant, the shamrock inn where we have a rather nice little lunch. it’s a popular place with the locals it seems and service is very friendly and prompt. the food is excellent (as is my pint of guinness )

at about 14:00 we reconvene at our pilgrims’s bus and are off again. next stop: brigid’s well — yep, there’s another one this one, in contrast to the other wells we’ve seen so far, is located directly next to the main road and sits to the side of a pub and below a cemetery. interesting combination that. the highlight of our visit is another story by our master story teller, ms k, about the celtic goddess brigid.

of the three places, cemetery, well, and pub, we unfortunately only get to see the well and are soon on our way again to the cliffs of moher!

now, the cliffs of moher: a name that seems to have jumped right of the pages of the hobbit, conjuring up images of wild, remote, difficult to reach cliffs…

well…

…not exactly. if there are any links to hobbit land, then it must be the sticky spider’s web of the black forest of mirkwood which trapped bilbo’s dwarf companions — the cliffs of moher are one gigantic tourist trap. the scenery is nice, what with dramatic cliffs and views west.3 that is true — just don’t look at the king-sized cafeteria, the exhibition center4, and a large shopping area selling all the kitsch ireland can throw at you — plus several smaller shops (more kitsch and even more kitsch). mrs d and i speed up to the cliff tops on either side, take a peek at the tower on the north cliff, decide to not pay the entrance fee for the tower, and fight our way back down to the cafeteria — the wind is blowing strongly today — and have a cup of tea, take a look at the kitsch on sale, and settle down to enjoy the sun.

from the cliffs of moher tourist trap our pilgrimage continues towards doolin. instead of going there directly by bus, we get to do a little walk today and approach it from lough north, a nice little walk taking us through the west irish coastal scenery.

our hotel in doolin, hotel doolin, is a newly build hotel in a modern, contemporary style, quite nice. dinner is is the adjoining pub–restaurant, a bit relaxed and not as speedy as the busy ballygarry house hotel, but i quite like it. the food is excellent!

after dinner we split up into little groups and swarm out into the scattered village of doolin to visit the pubs — tonight is “irish pub night”! mrs d and i opt for the “original one”, gus o’connors, founded in 1832.

when we arrive at about 21:45, the live music is already playing (a bit slowly still, but picking up steam [literally] as the night progresses). we settle in with a pint of guinness and cidre and enjoy the music and also the chat with our co-pilgrims.

quite a day

1. though, as soon as we are finished and leave, they do turn the radio up to full blast again. ↩
2. here’s my theory on celtic saints: first, to be eligible for celtic sainthood you need to have at least one well or spring named after you; second, the more wells and springs you can collect the more important, saint-wise, you are. ↩
3. rumor has it, that on a fine day5 you can see the statue of liberty ↩
4. hosting an exhibition about the atlantic ocean when we were there. ↩
5. for certain definitions of fine, almost all of them probably involving larger quantities of guinness… ↩
6. and, yes, i just might be making this up as i go… ↩